As the winter arrives the very first thing that comes in
every North Indian’s mind is the scrumptious Sarson Ka Saag with makki ki roti.
Yes, this sarson ka saag is the most loved and the cooked dish for the winter
season in the north of India.

Sarson Ka Saag

It needs to be cooked with a lot of patience and love, as it
is a bit time consuming task. People often make it in large quantity and
refrigerate it. The small portion is then tempered as required.

Sarson Ka Saag

There have been many variations made to the recipe of saag.
But my today’s recipe is a perfect authentic sarson ka saag recipe straight
from the kitchen of Amritsar.
It is my mother in law’s recipe and so it is the traditional one going on from
ages.

I have explained everything in right from the cleaning to
chopping to cooking and then tempering the whole thing is included in my
recipe.

We will begin with sarson. Take
the bunch of sarson and then we need to take only the leaves and tender stem of
it. If the stem is hard then peel the outer layer and take the inner tender and
soft part of the stem.

mustard leaves

take the tender part

For both palak and bathua take
the leaves and only tender stems.

palak leaves

bathua leaves

Now clean these leaves and stems
in running water for 3 to 4 times. All the dirt should be removed.

On a chooping board cut all
these leaves and stems. Do not cut them big else it would be difficult to mash
them later. In Punjab the saag cutting
machines are available, as they make saag in large quantities, the machine is
more convenient for them.

chop the leaves and stems

After cutting, put all these
chopped leaves in the pressure cooker and turn on the heat.

put in pressure cooker

Add in 1 glass water, 2 green
chillies and salt. Add little salt as the leaves would be reduced on cooking,
so the salt could be adjusted later on.

Pressure cook for 30 minutes.
For 5 whistles on high and then lower the heat.

pressure cook for 30 min

Open the cooker when it
depressurizes. The water should be dried till now. If it is not dried remove
the water in a bowl which we would add later on. The water is removed so that
when we add the maize flour in the next step, the flour won’t form lumps.

water dries

Now put in the maize flour. Take a hand blender and mix
and mash the maize flour with the saag. It would take around 6 to 8 minutes.

add maize flour

mix and mash

Again cook it for 15 minutes.
The raw taste of the maize flour should not be left. After 15 minutes, taste it
and if the raw taste still persists cook for some more time. Do not close the
cooker just cover it half and cook.

add 1 glass water

cover and cook

cooked

Now in a pan take ¼ cup ghee and
add in the onions, garlic and ginger. Saute till golden brown.

ghee, onion, garlic, ginger

saute till golden brown

Then put in a cup of prepared
saag and mix well and simmer for a minute.

add saag

mix

Rest can be tempered as and when
to be used. It stays good for a week if refrigerated.

Serve it hot with makke ki roti
and raddish.

Sarson Ka Saag

Tips:

Clean all the greens thoroughly.

Chop them small, so that it
would be easier to mash.

Cover and cook while cooking the
maize flour.

Go food-a-licious with this traditional recipe of Sarson a Saag and share your experience with us via comments